Unwitting Accomplices

I've been reading the gospels lately, and have been reading about the events that led up to Jesus' death. It is surprising to me that the Pharisees and the governing body of the Temple, the Sanhedrin, allowed themselves to be overtaken with rage and crucify Jesus and fulfill so many prophecies. You might have thought cooler heads would prevail.

In Acts we have the Pharisee Gamaliel telling his cohorts that in the matter of Peter and John they should back off. If these men were truly working on behalf of God there was nothing they could do, and if they weren't then they'd fizzle like every other upstart movement popular in that time of Jewish history. This was within 100 days of Jesus' crucifixion. Where was Gamaliel's voice on the night in question.

Shouldn't someone have spoken up and said, "Let's wait until after Passover week. We don't want to make Jesus look like a sacrificial lamb." Someone to say, "Let's not trade him for Barrabas and risk making Jesus the scapegoat (a prophetic Jewish symbol)." Who approved thirty pieces of silver as a price for Jesus' betrayal to fulfill the prophecy of Jeremiah? Who decided to let him be whipped bearing stripes (Isaiah), before being accursed for hanging on a tree (Deuteronomy). I'd have thought somebody would have seen these things stacking up and said, let's wait a little longer.

Ah, but the sovereignty of God allowed them to be blinded by their own rage, hatred, and love of self and power to make them unwitting accomplices in His redemption plan.

--Ben